This invention relates to vehicle deck closures and, more particularly, it relates to such closures which open to form rumble seats.
In order to increase passenger carrying capacity, early automobiles were constructed with rumble seats as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,654,878. Because of their popularity, rumble seats engendered many and varied designs as exemplified by the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,806,692; 1,816,937; 1,895,832; and 2,880,033. However, although passenger carrying capacity was increased by the rumble seat, it was usually accomplished at the expense of trunk storage capacity because of the substantial volume occupied by the rumble seat cushions. This problem was recognized in U.S. Pat. No. 1,796,081, issued Mar. 10, 1931 to E. A. Bundy and entitled "Combination Rumble Seat and Back For Vehicles," but the solution proposed therein (pivoting the seat cushion forwardly within the trunk cavity), although increasing the utility of the trunk, nevertheless still retained the familiar rumble seat cushion and thus did not provide a completely satisfactory solution to the problem of how to increase trunk carrying capacity.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,806,692, issued May 26, 1931 to G. A. Lemon and entitled "Rumble Seat Construction," a rumble seat is described in which the seat is positioned immediately under the trunk lid (and trunk closure or rumble seat back which forms a part of the lid). This construction permits substantially full use of the trunk for storage when the trunk lid is raised. However, because the seat is fixed in position, it essentially prevents loading of the trunk through the opening closed by the trunk back.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,880,033, issued Mar. 31, 1959 to A. L. Shelton and also entitled "Rumble Seat Construction," another arrangement is described in which the seat section folds up against the seat back when the rumble seat is closed to maximize trunk storage capacity. However, like the Lemon rumble seat construction, the seat of the Shelton rumble seat is moved into a seating position when the trunk back is opened thereby providing an obstacle to insertion of packages through the rumble seat opening. Additionally, the rumble seat mechanism described by Shelton is quite complex.
As will be understood from the foregoing, there remains a need for a rumble seat comprising a seat section which is foldable against the seat back when the latter is in both its open and closed positions to maximize trunk storage capacity and to permit package insertion through the opening closed by the seat back.
In order to carry bicycles on a vehicle, a bike rack has to be mounted thereon. Unfortunately, many bike racks restrict use of a vehicle's trunk, particularly when bicycles are carried thereon. It would, therefore, be advantageous to be able to carry bicycles on a vehicle and still have unrestricted access to that vehicle's trunk.